Well, time sure is flying for this MBA student.  Things have been rather hectic, although I do think I finally have a hang of things this semester:).  My courses this semester have been challenging and mentally stimulating.  Meanwhile, the job search continues.  I have had a few interviews the past couple weeks but have not reached the job offer stage with any of them yet.  In the meantime, I plan to send out more job applications while also looking into future living arrangements.  Busy, busy, busy…

When taking Economics and Finance courses in my undergraduate studies, I began shaping a better understanding of personal finances.  In these courses, I learned about topics such as APRs and EARs, fiscal responsibility, and deficit spending.  Applying this to my personal financial situation, I knew that I wanted to always be responsible with my spending while also being willing to spend money to make useful purchases in advance or purchase/spend on necessities, such as education/school. 

Part of the personal finance equation is bargain hunting–i.e. looking for good deals at a lower than expected price.  Numerous students bargain hunt.  Graduate students typically bargain hunt.  I bargain hunt.  Some of my peers bargain hunt.  The desire to bargain hunt is both practical and satisfying.  By finding nicely priced goods and services, I can spend less and save money.  At the same time, I can put my critical thinking skills to use and see just how well I can do with bargain hunting.  A recent find was an all-in-one printer/scanner/copier/fax machine at a regular store price of $90 and MSRP as high as $110 to $120, for the outstanding clearance price of $45!  I purchased the second-last one in the store for myself and then went back and got the last one for my uncle’s family after I told my uncle about it.    

What are some of the good bargains you have found?  On what are you willing to deficit spend?

Good afternoon all!  How are you???  Things have been pretty hectic on my end.  Unfortunately, I had to leave early from an HR/Marketing internship I had at Aflac.  It was a great place to work at with awesome people, but I just did not have the time and energy to balance the job with my studies and my assistantship.

In the past, I had done a pretty good job with balancing my time amongst numerous activities, commitments, and other opportunities.  However, in this instance I found that I might be trying to take on too much.  As such, I sat down and made a spreadsheet with time estimates for my weekly and semester commitments.  In doing so, I realized that there literally was not enough time in my weekly schedule to honor all of my commitments.  Had I not taken the time to analyze the situation, I would have continued to think that I was not being efficient enough.  Efficiency is important, yet quality, health, and balance are also important aspects of work and life. 

As I have said in previous posts, it is important to develop not only as a student or a professional but as a whole person.  It is good for me to push myself, to both dream big and reach far.  Yet, part of my personal growth is also realizing that I cannot ‘do it all’ or ‘have it all’.  As Aunt May told Peter Parker in one of the Spider-Man movies, “You’re not Superman, you know.”  Well, I am not Spider-Man either. 

Last year, in MBA 583 class, we watched most of the video The Smartest Guys in the Room.  I remember when former Enron executive Jeffrey Skilling made a bold remark about his intelligence and how we all laughed about it.  When we stopped the video to discuss about intelligence, I recall saying something along the lines of ”being smart is not just knowing what you know, but also knowing what you don’t know.”  We need to know both our strong points and our limitations.  In doing so, we can play to our strengths, improve upon our weaknesses, and know when to ask for help. 

Even Superman and Spider-Man (who are fictional superheroes) have strengths and weaknesses.  While on the surface level it is their super powers that make them seem superior, in the long run it is their knowledge and understanding of their abilities and limitations that sets them apart from their villainous foes.  Like these fictional characters, we–the real people that we are–are all vulnerable at some point or another.  It is up to us to admit this vulnerability and learn how to deal with it.

Congratulations to all our Summer MBA graduates! You made it!! It was fun watching you walk across the stage this morning as you completed one more leg of your journey. Where will you go now? Some of you will stay here in Ohio while others will go jetting across the globe. Bowling Green may have only been your home for a while, but I know it has made quite the impression.

A few more weeks and then the new class arrives…

A couple months ago, I was eating out at a Chinese buffet with a handful of classmates.  A few of us were joking around that we would take the fortunes from our fortune cookies and make them our statuses on Facebook.  Anyhow, I opened up my cookie and received an intriguing fortune: “Failure is opportunity in disguise”.  This seemed to contradict some of the ‘wisdom’ that is force-fed to us through tradition, culture, and society. 

A few years ago, I read a book by Vince Lombardi, Jr., taking quotes from his father, legendary National Football League coach Vince Lombardi, Sr.  One of the coach’s famous lines was: “Winning isn’t everything.  It’s the only thing.”  While this is a highly motivational quote, I have to disagree with the quote in the context of this blog post.  Lombardi’s quote suggests that losing is not an option and making mistakes is only detrimental to one’s goals. 

Meanwhile, a few years ago, Converse ran an advertisement with National Basketball Association player Dwyane Wade, who is a star with the Miami Heat.  In the commercial, Wade falls down and gets knocked down in various situations.  Yet, everytime, he gets back up.  The saying with the commercial was: “Fall down seven times.  Stand up eight.”  In this sense, Wade did not let pain or overpowering stop him from playing basketball aggressively and passionately.  Perhaps Wade relates to this quote off the court as well, as the message certainly applies. 

Further back, the decent but poor fit in the Rocky saga “Rocky V” had a video montage of the five movies with music in the background.  The song playing was performed by Elton John, entitled “The Measure of a Man”.  The lyrics of the song include the following words: “You had to lose so you could win. / And rise above your troubles while you can. / Now you can love, now you can lose, / Now you can choose, / That’s the measure of a man.”  Definitely, the lyrics can apply to women as well as outside the boxing realm.  Sometimes, we have to mess up and make mistakes before we learn to do things the right way.  Yet, the losing enables us to eventually succeed at what we are working towards. 

In the MBA program, there may be times inside or outside the classroom where we fail.  We may be humbled by others or disappointed in ourselves.  Instead of sulking in shame and low morale, we should keep moving forward.  As a classmate told me one time, “Do not let your ‘chair’ weigh you down.”  That is, as we learn from mistakes, we need to let go of them.  We cannot let past mistakes hang around in the present.  From an accounting perspective, they are ’sunk costs’.  Let it go.  Or, as Paul McCartney said, “Let it be.”  And, as the cookie said, “Failure is opportunity in disguise.”

Links:

• The Lombardi Rules
• Dwyane Wade Converse commercial
• The Measure of a Man song lyrics
• Let It Be song lyrics

Each MBA student has a reason or set of reasons for why he/she has entered his/her respective MBA program.  For some, the transition directly from undergraduate studies to graduate school seems logical and natural.  For others, the first years of the post-undergraduate career are unsatisfactory or unfulfilling, meaning that a career change is in order.  Yet, others see the MBA experience as a chance to advance further in their current career track.

While sick over the past weekend, I spent some time trying to put to guitar music a song I had written back in January 2008.  I am not a ‘musician’ per se, with minimal training and limited talent.  Anyhow, I had written this song called “Malcontent”.  At that time, I had continued to be thankful for having loving family and friends and decent work.  However, I had felt a general desire to take my life into its next phase.  Aside from my 8 semesters of undergrad spent in Cincinnati at Xavier, I had always lived in Bedford Heights, Ohio (a southeast suburb of Cleveland).  For me, life had reached a dead end; to some extent, I felt like I was being forced to live in the past.  I recalled how I had put taking the GMAT on hold for at least 6 months already (to the point that I had stopped studying for it) yet still believed that the MBA degree could be my ticket to anywhere I wanted to go.

For me, a complete career change was not in order, although I did wonder if there were better positions/fields in the long run, such as HR and OD, that would better fit my skills and personality. Regardless, the MBA decision for me went beyond my career and meant a better, more fulfilling life. Having found out about my acceptance into the BGSU program with just enough time to put in a full 2 weeks notice and finish getting stuff together for a day, I was able to hop into my car (just as I had written in this song) and move on to the next phase of my life in lovely Bowling Green, Ohio.

There have been ups and downs, successes and failures, developments and disappointments. I have found this MBA program to personally be a true learning experience—both inside and outside of the classroom. Overall, I am humble and thankful for the opportunity to be a part of the full-time BGSU MBA cohort of 2009 and look forward to completing the program in December.

-Richard F.

Final exams a couple weeks ago were not that bad.  It took a good amount of studying, but the tests were pretty straightforward.  It certainly helped when we formed a study group in the middle of the summer term.  Being able to do practice problems together and explain stuff to each other made the material more understandable.  Other times, just being around people with similar concerns and problems helped me to make it through tough days. 

Up next is GradSTEP week.  All of us with Graduate Assistantships have to attend these various training sessions.  After that, the new fall semester begins.

This is the last day of classes for the semester, with only final exams remaining next week. It has been a long, rather difficult semester so I am glad that it is almost finished. It hasn’t been all bad, though. I really liked some of the classes and I had some excellent teachers as well. Some of the classes weren’t my favorite, but you’ll have some of those throughout an MBA. After next week I just have two six-week summer sessions left before I graduate. It’s crazy to think about how close it is. I’m definitely looking forward to finishing, but I know I’ll miss it once I’m gone. I feel that I’m ready to move on though. I’m definitely ready to move out of Toledo and down to Columbus in August. There are going to be a lot of big changes as soon as I graduate, but I’m ready.

Hey all,
Its now officially April, which means just one more month until the Spring semester is over. This has been a pretty tough semester…a lot of work with a lot of content. My advice would again be to keep up with your work. There are a lot of group projects this semester as well…at least 1 in every class. If you can get with a group that you work well with it will make a world of difference. I have 2 big projects due next week, and then its crunch time to finish the two projects that are due in two weeks. After that, its final exam time. I’m definitely looking forward to having a few weeks off between Spring and Summer sessions. I’m actually planning on heading down to Columbus to look for an apartment and hopefully set up some job interviews (keep your fingers crossed). If anyone has any questions about the program or anything, feel free to ask. Have a good week. Take care.

Brandon

Hello to all again. This has been a busy week for me. I actually got engaged on Saturday so it has been a week full of dinners with families, celebrations and what not on top of an exam, finance research work and an operations case study. But not it’s almost over and I’m definitely looking forward to the weekend. It will be a short, yet relaxing break before I’m back at it next week with more deadlines. My marketing group project deadline is fast approaching and I feel like we still have a lot to do. We will get it done though…I have a good group. Again, if anyone has any questions, feel free to ask. Take care.

Brandon